


Twitterpated

by LilyInTheSnow



Series: The Intelligence Nerd and The Avengers [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: A Pinch of Salt, Captain America Steve Rogers/Modern Bucky Barnes, Kinda, M/M, Mistaken Identity, Non-Graphic Violence, POV Steve Rogers, Pining, Shrunkyclunks, Slow Burn, Steve Rogers is Not a Virgin, Steve is NOT a drama queen, Steve talking about sucking dick, Tags Are Hard, a tiny mention of Tony/Bruce, because why not, haha it's Bucky, he thinks Nat hired him an escort, inadvertently flirting for the powers of evil, it's just the rest of the Avengers that are slightly evil though, not bashing sexwork at all, shut up Natasha, terrible flirting, they won't leave his Bucky alone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-03
Updated: 2018-05-30
Packaged: 2019-04-17 23:28:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14199957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilyInTheSnow/pseuds/LilyInTheSnow
Summary: Steve's POV of Chapters 1-7 of Intelligence nerd.Steve's not twitterpated. Really he's not. Bucky's just a total badass and his future husband is all.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> AO3 hates my phone and won't let me tag it how I want. So, the pining is ridiculous. I mean how can it not be with these two ridiculous guys?
> 
> Slow burn for all that it's only like 6k or so of Steve flailing. 
> 
> I dunno what else.
> 
> Beta'd by whitewolfbucky over on Tumblr. Thank you! <3
> 
> I can be found on Tumblr @lilyinthesnow
> 
> Come flail with us!

Steve looked up with a slight frown when Tony flounced his way, fifteen minutes late, into a meeting that he had called for. It wasn’t unusual honestly; it was just fucking annoying as hell. Even if he should be used to it by now. Tony tossed a file folder in front of him on the table, then began waving his hands in the air like a madman making a holographic projection appear above the table.

“Got you the paper copy,” Stark muttered as he, Natasha, Clint, Bruce, and Sam looked at the projection.

Steve rolled his eyes and opened the file, skimming over the front page quickly and frowning when he saw that it was someone’s service records. A gorgeous someone, he realized, when he looked at the picture of the young man paperclipped to the folder. The picture was probably from when the guy had first enlisted. He was in uniform but the photo looked candid from what Steve could tell, because people always looked so serious in their ID photos and such. The guy was fucking gorgeous and Steve could barely turn his eyes away from the picture long enough to read over the pages of information in the folder as Stark continued to ramble. Thick dark lashes framed ice blue eyes and adorable eye crinkles as the kid smiled brightly.

“Why are we looking into him?”

“Because, that kid just took out some douchebag that broke into the tower.”

“He’s Intelligence?”

“Yeah, he’s one of the Nerds downstairs.” The Nerds were an entire floor’s worth of people devoted to intelligence gathering and confirmation. There were a few levels of security and someone like the kid who was close to Steve’s age minus his time in the ice was only three levels down from being an Avenger.

“Why didn’t security catch the guy?”

“We knew we had a breach somewhere. No one checked the stairwell because who wants to walk up that many flights of stairs. Except Barnes always takes the stairs if there’s an emergency so I let him slide through. He wasn’t the only one.” Stark shrugged like it wasn’t important, but Steve knew he was going to revamp his entire security system. Again. For the hundredth time. “It’s good he was there. I offered him a job with security. He said no. He’s so grumpy it’s amazing.”

“This is Bucky right,” Natasha asked even though she already knew everything about everyone in the tower. She was still the most paranoid of them even though she’d toned it down recently. “The one you made the arm for?”

“Yep.”

“His records are amazing. Before he got discharged he saved his entire unit with pretty much nothing but a spork and a pocket knife.”

Steve looked to Natasha with a brow raised in question, but her face was its usual unflappable self and he couldn’t tell if she was joking or not. “A spork?” He hated those fucking things. Why didn’t people just fucking pick one?

“It was a titanium spork and a pink and purple titanium coated Smith and Wesson pocket knife.”

“Shit! That was him?” Clint asked. “I heard about that! I thought people were joking. This dude’s supposed to be like…the best. Just how metal do you have to be to kill people with a spork? And that pocket knife was a fuckin’ CKLPR. The blade is only like two inches long on that thing.”

Sam looked to Steve and rolled his eyes. Yeah, he wasn’t sure how metal it was to kill someone with a spork either. Even if it was titanium. Still, if you were pissed off enough it would probably work. He might start carrying one around with him. He could just take it out and jab Stark with it when he started rambling and flailing around about shit no one but he and Bruce understood. It could be like those clicker things people used to get their dog’s attention while they were training them. It might work.

“The spork had a serrated edge on it too,” Natasha murmured with a slightly dreamy look in her eyes. What was so special about a spork with a serrated edge? Was she impressed with it because it maybe counted as a knife since it had a serrated edge? And how the fuck were you supposed to use a spork with a serrated edge without cutting your damn mouth on it? Maybe that’s why Barnes had killed someone with it. He’d cut his mouth on it too many times.

He sighed looking back down at the picture clipped to the folder and bit his bottom lip. Barnes really was gorgeous. Dark hair, beautiful blue eyes that sparkled at whoever had taken the photo. That mouth, though, was what Steve’s eyes kept moving back to. Fuck, he had perfect lips. Steve kind of always thought that ‘Cupid’s bow lips’ thing was an odd descriptor but it worked. Maybe especially for Barnes. He wanted to know what those lips tasted like. He kind of also wanted to drag his tongue over Barnes’s jaw and nip at that little dimple in his chin too. Shit.

“He took out ten people that were armed to the teeth with nothing but the spork and the pocket knife?” Sam asked just to be sure, Steve guessed.

“Yep.” Clint nodded and Steve sighed finally tearing his eyes away from the photo and then tossing the service records back on the table.

“Can we get back to why we’re looking into him? You want him to join security?”

“Yes. He told me no.”

“Then leave him alone. He left the Army for a reason, Stark. He might not want to keep doing anything remotely resembling it.”

“The car he was in hit an IED, killed two guys. He got lucky. Spent a couple months in the hospital, got his discharge and came home. Lived with his little sister for a little bit. I gave him an arm, Army tried to call him back after they found out, but he wouldn’t go.”

“PTSD?”

“No. That’s the thing. He went through his mandated therapy with flying colors. If he’s got issues they’re buried so deep even JARVIS wouldn’t be able find them.”

“Just leave him alone, Tony. He had a chance to go back and didn’t. There’s a reason he doesn’t want to do it anymore.” Steve stood, having had enough of Tony for the day. He wanted to go to his apartment, put on his pajamas, eat some Ben and Jerry’s, and watch Netflix.

“Yeah, but.”

“No.”

“At least watch the video!”

Steve groaned and fell back into his chair as he turned his eyes to the video that was paused. Tony waved one hand flamboyantly and the video began to play. In it Barnes was walking through the lobby of the tower wearing a pair of nicely fitted black slacks and a black long sleeved button down with a tie that perfectly matched his pretty blue eyes and combat boots that looked like they’d been dyed to match the tie. He had a backpack strapped across his chest. Christ he looked so fucking good. Steve fisted his hands on the armrests of his chair to keep from reaching out to trace Barnes’s figure on the video. He wanted to draw him.

Lights began to flash and alarms blared and Video Barnes rolled his eyes when everyone else ran for the safe room in a panic. He merely made his way to the door to the stairwell and slipped inside. The video changed to following him up the stairs and holy fucking shit his thighs and ass were fucking perfect. Steve swiped his tongue over his bottom lip to make sure he wasn’t drooling, then bit his bottom lip hoping no one realized how closely he was tracking Video Barnes. He was going for mildly interested and not full on ‘I want to be squeezed between those thighs’, but he wasn’t quite sure how convincing he was being. He definitely did not look toward Natasha, but she probably already knew he wanted Barnes. And Jesus, how nice was it not to have to hide that from people anymore? Well, his close friends at least. He wasn’t quite sure he wanted to be OUT out. Not yet anyway.

“He’s won Best Ass at the Nerd’s Christmas party three years in a row. This is why,” Tony murmured as they all watched Barnes frown and look up toward the footsteps that they could now hear were running down the stairs.

“I bet,” Sam muttered under his breath. Steve nodded.

“The only year he lost was because the Nerds put Cap in the running. Barnes contested it, it still stuck, but Cap was banned from entry after that.”

“I didn’t get an award for that.” And he shouldn’t have won anyway. He was pretty sure Barnes had the better ass between the two of them.

“Yeah, turns out they were all too scared to actually give you the award and they wound up throwing it away.”

Steve laughed, shaking his head, and watched as Barnes clotheslined a guy dressed like some kind of dominatrix covered in straps and buckles and armed for bear. They all shared a collective wince as the guy slammed down on the floor, cracking his head against the landing. Barnes moved to him and pulled what looked like a Beretta M9 from the guy’s thigh holster and trained it on him then bobbed his head from side to side before grabbing what looked like a miniature AT4 and slinging the strap over his shoulder. Steve wanted to climb him like a fucking tree. Especially after seeing that devastating grin when the guy asked what Barnes’s arm was made out of. He was definitely going to draw Barnes later. Or on him. With those edible body paints that probably tasted like crap. He’d lay him out and trace each line of muscle with the paints and then lick them right back off.

Video Barnes spoke again and Steve tore himself away from his NC-17 rated thoughts and looked back to the PG for mild violence rated security feed. Barnes reached over and twisted a doorknob, breaking it and causing lights to flash in the stairwell, alarms now blaring closer than what they had been. Stark showed up in the video moments later and congratulated Barnes then took the Beretta and the mini AT4. When Barnes pouted, Steve wanted to jump up and demand that Stark give back the rocket launcher to his future boyfriend. What’s the worst that could happen with him having one? How much damage could it actually do? Instead Steve smiled softly when that pout turned into a fierce glare that reminded him of his own when he was pissed off about something. His future boyfriend blushed and smirked at Video Stark when he said something about the Best Ass title then gave him a snappy salute and started climbing the stairs again.

When the video cut off, unnecessarily having followed Barnes all the way back to his office, not that Steve was complaining because damn, Steve swiped the folder containing his service records off of the table then stood and walked toward the door. “Leave him alone, Tony.”

“He enjoys fighting or he wouldn’t have done that.”

“No. Leave him alone.”

Steve walked out of the room, closed the door, then headed toward the elevator to get to his apartment. Instead of watching Netflix after changing into his pajamas and eating a tub of Ben and Jerry’s, he was going take a closer look at the files in that folder. And maybe stare at the picture a little bit longer. He wanted to know everything there was to know about James Buchanan Barnes.

***

Three hours later Steve had changed James’s designation from Future Boyfriend to Future Husband. James was a fucking badass. He’d spent ten years in Hell going places hardly anyone ever came back from. When Steve had gotten to the part about the spork and the tiny pocket knife he’d actually been impressed instead of wondering why the hell anyone would willingly use a spork to begin with. James had gone in on his own after managing to escape capture when the rest of his unit had been caught. He’d started with his service pistol with two extra fifteen round magazines after losing everything else in the firefight and by the time he got inside the building where his unit had just been taken he only had the titanium spork and the little Smith and Wesson pocket knife. Apparently they’d been gifts from his younger sister, Rebecca. He’d made it in and out with both of them. Steve was going to marry him one day.

He spent the next few days trying to get Tony to leave Sergeant Barnes alone with little success, and avoiding Natasha because she would make fun of him for having a crush on someone strictly because of how they looked and their military performance. And maybe a little bit because of the spork and tiny pocket knife thing. He agreed with Clint, it was pretty metal, he just didn’t want anyone to find out he agreed with Clint about it because they would never let it go. And apparently Steve had a competency kink he hadn’t known about until now.

Keeping a titanium spork on hand to jab Tony with was sounding better and better the more he had to hear Stark whining about James telling him no over and over. It got to the point that when some jackass wearing something that looked like Tony’s Iron Man suit had had an illicit affair with a vampire came into the tower lobby, Tony actually told tower security to supervise but only because James had been there and would probably do something about it if security didn’t show up. Steve thought it was underhanded and cruel to make him do something he probably didn’t want to be doing anymore, but when James launched himself on the Iron Vampire, Steve watched, unable to tear his gaze away from the security feed. He watched as James was flung around like a bull rider while tearing into the neck of suit with his left hand and wrapping his legs tightly around their waist until he finally pulled out a sparking tangle of wires. He finally threw himself away from them, rolling to his feet and watching as they clanged to the ground.

Steve kept watching the video as Stark offered James the job and James had been a little bit irritated and gorgeous and grumpy as fuck and told Stark no, yet again. Steve reread his service records, watched the two videos over and over while having JARVIS hide his viewing history so none of them would find out. It wasn’t sexy to watch someone clothesline a guy right? Or watch him ride some douchebag like a bull. Steve wanted to be the guy James was riding, damn it.

Stark had Barton go try to bribe James into joining up with security. Apparently breakfast pizza and coffee were good bribes? Steve would have preferred money that way he could have gotten the things he actually wanted. What if that was what James was worried about? It’s not like Stark wouldn’t pay him. He seemed awfully attached to the idea of a mini rocket launcher, but when Tony offered him one, built into a new arm even, he turned it down. That was how much he didn’t want to join security.

Barton returned with a pout but possibly a new friend. Sam went the next day and returned less than ten minutes later shaking his head in the negative with a mumbled, “He has a Captain America poster in his office. It’s half buried under papers, but it’s there.” Steve tried not to look excited but knew he’d probably failed. Sam rolled his eyes at him.

James took out some kid that had broken into the tower and was attempting to hack into the supercomputer by nailing him in the head with a laptop the Nerds kept hidden in the room and used to play Tetris on the supercomputer with. Was it seriously sexy that he’d blocked the bullets the kid had shot at him by using his metal arm? It was sexy right? Or was that just Steve? Was he that fucking ridiculous?

Natasha volunteered to go next, probably to keep Steve from doing it and flailing all over himself, and spent the next three days sitting silently in James’s office being creepypasta and staring at him or reading a book. James brought her a weird drink from his coffee place every day. On the fourth day when Natasha had given up with a shrug Tony sent Bruce with a new laptop for the Nerds to play Tetris on as a bribe. That didn't work either, and it was decided that since Thor was out of reach, it fell to Steve to convince James to join up. And somewhere in the middle of all the craziness it had been decided that James needed to be an Avenger instead of just working for security. Which Steve was all for, except that meant he’d be working with James on a closer level than if he’d just been security, and Steve wasn’t sure if he could handle that kind of closeness on a regular basis without acting like a love-struck moron.

He gathered every bit of courage he could dig up and made his way down to James’s office before his brain caught up with how much of a bad idea it was to be alone the same room with him because Steve wanted to climb him like a tree. But Barnes was probably straight anyway so it didn’t matter, but holy shit Steve wanted him bad.

He knocked on James’s office door and blinked at the growled words and threat of bodily harm even as he caught the scent of his cologne. It was something woodsy and spicy that probably should have clashed with the slight metallic notes from his arm, but didn’t. He smelled so fucking good and Steve wanted to bury his nose against James’s neck and breathe him in.

“I swear to God if you don’t leave me the hell alone I’m going to rip my arm off and throw it at you. I have to fucking work and I can’t do it if you keep sending your minions in here to beg me to work with you!”

Why was that so hot and kind of funny? And wow he was super grumpy, but it was still kind of adorable. Jeez he was so gone on this guy it was crazy. “I take it now isn’t a good time.”

Barnes jerked his head up with wide eyes and flailed right out of his chair with a yelp. Steve watched with a smile as he crawled the rest of the way under his desk, mumbling quietly enough that Steve barely caught what he was saying. Something about the Army and his ma and who knew what else.

“Sergeant Barnes?” There was another quiet mutter and Steve bit his bottom lip to keep from laughing. “Are you all right?” He heard another thunk which was Barnes apparently hitting his head on the bottom of his desk and then the whisper of cords and cables sliding together as they were fiddled with.

“Yeah. Sorry. Thanks. I’m busy, so bye now.”

Steve almost laughed at the adorable squeak in James’s voice. “All right. I guess I’ll try again later.”

“Okay,” James said with another squeak that made Steve want to laugh. He waited to laugh about it until he was far enough away from his office that James wouldn’t hear it. He met Natasha in the elevator and she gave him a weak smile when he shook his head.

“He flailed under his desk. Said he was busy. I didn’t get a chance to ask him.”

Natasha sighed and shook her head as if she knew something Steve didn’t. Well, she probably did. She was Natasha, but she didn’t know everything, and it was annoying as fuck sometimes the way she acted all superior because she could sneak into places to steal data and squeeze into tiny hiding spots and he couldn’t.

“I have a plan.”

“Does it involve maiming or dismembering?” Natasha only shrugged as the elevator doors opened then pushed the button to go back to Sergeant Barnes’s floor as Steve stepped out. “Be nice.”

She raised one perfectly manicured eyebrow. “I’m always nice, Rogers.”

“Please don’t scare him away.”

“I got your back, Boo.” She giggled and he rolled his eyes.

“You’ve been hanging out with Sam too much.” She winked as the doors closed and he sighed then walked to his couch and flopped down, reaching forward to grab Barnes’s service records to read for the millionth time. He still couldn’t get over the spork and pocket knife situation.

***

“How’d it go with your boy, Steve?” Steve blinked up at Sam from Barnes’s service records.

“He’s not my boy.” Sam gave him a slight glare and he grinned. Yeah, they all knew how much of a crush he had on Barnes by now. “It was amazing.” 

“You know he’s got a crush on you right?”

“I don’t think so. He looked scared shitless.” It was still fuckin’ adorable though.

“You, my friend, are twitterpated.”

“I am not.” He was. It was pathetic.

“Uh huh.” Sam grinned then took the folder away from him and tossed it on the coffee table. “Netflix. No more Barnes right now.”

“Natasha is torturing him somewhere. I know she is.”

“Actually, Captain Rogers, if you would turn your attention to your television.” Steve nodded and looked to the TV as JARVIS turned it on. He saw James pick up a table that only had three and a half legs, flip it up on its side, and throw it, pinning two men to the wall with it. 

Steve felt his heart flutter a little at that. It wasn’t hot okay. It was just…yeah okay, it was kind of hot. Barnes moved to slouch in a half broken chair, sipping from a cup of coffee while Natasha spoke to the kid behind the counter. After a few moments of trying to calm him Natasha moved to interrogate the two men that were pinned between a wall and table. Barnes looked bored or tired, Steve couldn’t really tell, and he saw the door open and Clint and Tony walk into the coffee shop. JARVIS ran the video feed long enough to see Tony tell Barnes to take a vacation and Steve pouted when the TV shut back off.

“Damn, Barnes is kind of a badass.”

Steve nodded and blinked the hearts from his eyes. “Yeah, he is.”

***

Steve watched Tony pace and ramble about Barnes. The kid was supposed to be on vacation but kept signing in to work instead. Tony kept having JARVIS sign the kid out and eventually had him start shutting down Barnes’s computer every time he turned it on. Tony was going overboard, as usual, but it seemed to be stressing James out instead of helping him relax. Especially when Tony  turned his webcam on to spy on him. Steve hated that he didn't get to see James in only a pair of black boxer briefs because damn, but it was also a huge invasion of privacy. And JARVIS sent him a screencap anyways. Which he definitely did not look at. For more than the thirty seconds it took him to delete it. And he definitely hadn’t stared at it long enough to have every pixel of it memorized.

And he absolutely didn't do any light stalking and go to Barnes’s coffee shop just to see if he was there because he had nothing better to do with his time aside from pine over James. That had been a disaster and a half, but also funny as shit. He’d barely gotten to the door of the shop and saw James inside. He watched as James was handed a cup of coffee and then barely kept himself from running after him when James turned toward the door, tripped over his own feet, almost fell on his face, and then dropped his cup on the floor when he saw Steve. James looked stressed the fuck out instead of relaxed and Steve had known it had to do with Tony.

So now he was sitting here watching Stark ramble and trying to get a word in edgewise.

“Tony! Jesus, just leave him alone. He looks more stressed out now that he’s on vacation than he did before he left. Only you can stress someone out that badly when they’re not even in the same room as you.”

“He’s supposed to taking a break. Not working more.”

“Look Tony, if he’s doing it on his vacation then he needs something to do. This obviously relaxes him or would if you’d leave him alone.”

“Yeah, but.”

Steve sighed and pulled his phone out of his pocket as Stark continued to ramble and shot Pepper a text letting her know that Tony was torturing the employees again. He got an eyeroll emoji in reply and his phone rang seconds later. He put it on speaker as he answered it and Tony finally shut up when he heard Pepper yelling at him and telling him he was going completely overboard and needed to stop his shit. Thank you, Pepper. When she hung up Tony looked suitably chastised and Steve hid a grin.

“Just let him come back to work. He looked stressed out and jittery at the coffee shop. He just needs something to do.”

“Yeah, okay.”

***

Saturday rolled around and Steve was definitely not stalking James when he saw him in a ratty looking diner that had old fashioned burgers and shakes that he’d found by accident one day. Steve had been waiting on his order when James walked in with a young woman that was probably his girlfriend and Steve’s heart didn’t break at all when he watched them sit down from his hiding spot in the corner. Not even a tiny bit. It especially didn’t break at the smile that James shot her once they were seated. He debated going over to talk to them, he did still need to talk to James about joining up, but what if it was a date? Was it petty of him that he kind of wanted to break it up? He knew it was. But they’d run him off it was anyway.

He waited until they got their burgers, then walked over and stood by their booth. James was reading a book while he was eating, so it must not have been that great of a date anyway. The woman looked up at him with stars in her eyes and he smiled down at her while she gaped. Unfortunately he was used to it, but at least she wasn’t jumping up and down and screaming. She kicked James under the table and he kicked her back then looked at her with a frown that quickly morphed into resignation when the woman let out a wistful sigh.

“Sergeant Barnes.” James quickly closed his book and flipped it cover side down before turning his gaze to Steve.

“Captain Rogers.” His voice was high and squeaky like it had been in his office and Steve bit back a grin.

“I haven’t seen you in here before.” James nodded then jolted when the woman with him kicked him under the table again.

“Becca usually picks it up for us,” he mumbled, his voice a little breathy.

Steve was going to assume Becca was the woman still staring up at him with hearts in her eyes. That was probably what his face looked like when he looked at James.

“Oh, is uh…she your girlfriend?” The woman giggled and Steve pouted a little bit. She probably was.

“Sister. I’m his sister. Becca.” She held a hand out and Steve shook it carefully not wanting to accidentally break James’s sister’s hand.

“It’s nice to meet you, Becca. Steve Rogers.” He introduced himself, feeling like a complete asshat that he felt so relieved that she was his sister instead of his girlfriend.

“Oh, I know. I mean…everyone knows, but I mean…sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Steve told her with a small smile.

“How long have you known, Bucky?” Bucky? What the hell kind of name was Bucky? Besides fucking adorable anyway.

“Not long. I mean, I know of him more than anything. Tony’s told me a lot about him.” And so had Clint and Natasha and Sam, but she didn’t need to know that. “He’s actually been helping out with some security issues at the tower.”

“Yeah?” Steve tried his best not to wince at the slight anger in her voice and he realized that Bucky apparently hadn’t told her about any of that. He tried telling her the bare minimum of details, making sure to brag on Bucky so that she wouldn’t be too upset with him and she seemed mildly impressed, but still irritated. She got the same scowl on her face that Bucky did when he was irritated. It was adorable on both of them, but Bucky’s was even more so.

Steve glanced over at Bucky when he pulled his phone out of his pocket and stared down at it with a cute confused look on his face.

“Buck?”

“Sorry. I gotta go. It’s work.” Bucky grabbed his book and slid out of the booth, accidentally brushing against Steve as he tried to make his escape. Steve did not take a small breath in through is nose to get a whiff of Bucky’s cologne. That would be creepy. “Sorry. I gotta…” Bucky jerked his thumb over his shoulder while his sister stared at him like he was crazy. “I’ll pay you back later, Becks. Love you. Be good. Bye, Steve.”

Steve watched him leave and tried not to pout as Bucky ran down the sidewalk.

“So,” Becca said. “How many times exactly has my brother fought off bad guys at the tower?” Steve did wince this time and sat across from her.

“Just a few.”

***

Steve wasn’t fucking pining okay? He wasn’t. And he wasn’t involved in any light stalking of one James Buchanan Barnes. He’d only seen him a couple times in the past week and few days. Once was in the lobby of the tower when Bucky spotted him and ran into the elevator, hitting the button to close the doors before Steve could make his way across the lobby.

The second time he had seen Bucky was when Natasha was being evil and demanded that Bucky bring her a packet of actual papers that she didn’t need because everything they got from the Intelligence Nerds was digital. She only did it to torture Steve.

He had been leaving the communal area, because he was tired of Natasha and Sam making fun of him for no fucking reason, when he crashed into Bucky. Or Bucky crashed into him as he’d rushed out of the elevator. It felt like running into a brick wall. 

Not that Steve knew what that felt like. He didn’t! He’d just maybe gotten thrown through one before. A couple times. It was nothing really.

Papers had flown everywhere when they'd crashed into each other but Bucky had  managed to save the cup of his regular coffee, not that Steve knew what it was. (Death Coffee.) And a cup of something that Steve thought was supposed to be a cup of coffee, but was possibly something that had come out of a unicorn’s butt. It had rainbow-colored whipped cream that sparkled when the light hit it. And edible glitter? That shit could not be good for you. 

Bucky had shoved the coffees into Steve’s hands then scooped up the papers, took the coffees back, and then ran off with them while muttering an apology and Steve had watched him with a small smile while rubbing a hand over a bruise on his chest. It was too a bruise, shut up! There wasn't an imaginary ache and his heart wasn't fluttering. It hadn't fluttered like that since the serum thank you very much.

The third time he saw Bucky was at Coney Island one day when he’d been feeling nostalgic. Not that it did much but make him feel worse about it, but Bucky looked beautiful standing in line for the Cyclone with his sister. He wanted to go over and talk, but he’d been slowly losing his nerve where Bucky was concerned, and he only made what Natasha and Sam would call ‘lingering gazes’ in his direction.

After that, Bucky saved the day yet again when some moron, who was covered in tiny weapons, was standing out on the sidewalk. Bucky slipped past him into the lobby and Steve watched as the tiny weapons fucker launched something that looked like a sparkler and a tear gas canister had a baby at Bucky. It hit Bucky’s arm and then landed on the floor at his feet. Steve jumped to his own, ready to rush down there and save his Future Husband, but wound up not needing to. Bucky kicked the canister back at the tiny weapons guy, and Steve watched in horrified fascination as every weapon on the douchebag that had tried to hurt Bucky exploded leaving a smoldering pile of douchebag and a crater on the sidewalk. Instead of running away like he usually did, Bucky hung around until Clint made his way down there and the two shared a high-five and a few minutes of quiet conversation before Bucky headed for his office and the video feed cut off.

“You, my friend, are twitterpated,” Sam told him. Again. For what was like the hundredth time since Bucky had been brought to Steve’s attention.

Steve sighed blinking the hearts from his eyes then turned to glare at Sam. “I understood that reference. And no I’m not.” He wasn’t. Just because Barnes was beautiful and grumpy and had killer thighs that Steve wanted wrapped around his head or hips at some point didn’t mean he was twitterpated. (He knew he was. Shut up.) And Steve may have a slight metal arm kink, but that was neither here nor there.

“The hell is twitterpated?” Natasha asked looking up from another of her Unicorn Poop coffees.

“He’s got a crush on Barnes.” Sam told her without looking up from his tablet. “Bambi. 1942.”

“I saw Snow White,” Natasha added with a shrug.

“So did I,” Steve muttered. “Bambi is sad. We don’t talk about Bambi.”

“You’re still twitterpated.”

“I am not. I’m too old to get twitterpated.” He was. He was a hundred. A hundred was too old for anything. Especially for having crushes on beautiful thirty year old former Special Forces grumps that worked in Intelligence.

“You’re thirty-two. Shut up.”

“Frozen years don’t count. We took a vote saying they did and you vetoed it saying they didn’t. You can’t change your mind now,” Natasha added licking rainbow swirled whipped cream from her upper lip.

“Whatever.”

“He is pretty though,” Natasha murmured. “If you like those grey blue eyes and the scruff and those lips.”

“So biteable,” Sam added.

“Kissable. And his arms.”

“Especially the shiny one.”

“And his hips and thighs.”

“He’s got a good ass too.”

“And that six pack.”

“And his service record is impeccable.”

“Okay, you know what? Fuck you guys. I don’t have a crush on Barnes. I am not fucking twitterpated.” He glared at them but they only laughed. The assholes. Not like he could hide it any-fucking-way. No matter how hard he tried. Everyone knew but Bucky at this point. Hell, Becca probably knew and he’d only talked to her once.

“If you don't have so much of a crush on him that you can't talk to him yet, go ask him to join up again. Everyone else has already given up and I think he’s fixing to break.” 

Steve narrowed his eyes at Natasha thoughtfully. “What do you know?”

“Me? I don’t know everything. I just act like I know everything.”

“You spent more time with Bucky than any of the rest of us. Tell me what you know.”

“All you have to do to get him to join up is ask him.” She shrugged negligently and he frowned.

“You’ve all been asking him for weeks now.”

“Not us. You. Don’t do one of your patriotic speeches. Just straight up ask your boy to join up. Be your normal earnest self, but not too earnest, don’t want to make it too unfair.”

“He’s not my boy and you can go ask him, Natasha. Do that creepy stare at him again. He’ll say yes.”

She and Sam exchanged a long silent look that had Steve glaring at them again before she nodded and Sam rolled his eyes.

“What?”

“Nothing. Go watch Netflix.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve's POV from the final quarter of chapter 5 to the end of chapter 6.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by the ever amazing whitewolfbucky and shout-out-into-the-void over on tumblr <3
> 
> Any errors are my own. :D

  


Steve sighed, pacing his floor as he waited to hear back from Natasha about Bucky. It had been over a day and he still hadn't heard back from her. For some reason they’d had a bit of a break from Avenging and he actually wondered if they had been avoiding the calls or if Thor had done some shit on his own while he was off doing whatever it was mythological alien god type people did when not on Earth. Either way it wouldn’t have surprised him. Not with how much time they’d all spent trying to talk Bucky into joining up.

He’d finally gotten to the point where he’d rather just ask Bucky out on a date and be done with it, but Sam had talked him out of it by pointing out that Bucky had flailed under his desk the first time Steve had popped by his office. Sam had then also pointed out that Steve could use that to his advantage because Bucky probably had a crush on him anyway and would probably say yes to joining up if Steve flirted with him a little bit.

“I kind of figured that out when he crawled under his desk after he cussed me out because he thought I was Tony,” he’d told him with a small smile.

“See? You can use that, man!”

Steve had sputtered at the implication that he would be so underhanded, that was more Stark’s level than his own. “No! That’s not right. Even if _I_ think he should join up, at this point it’s got to be his choice. I’m not going to use my powers for evil, Sam. And why didn’t you tell me he’s so much prettier in person than in the videos? And he smells so fucking good!” Yeah…he might have been daydreaming about smothering himself in Bucky at some point. Was that creepy? It was probably creepy, right? Like he wanted to wrap himself in Bucky’s blanket or something. Steal his favorite hoodie and wear it around. That kind of thing. People did that, right? Probably only if they were dating though.

“Wanted you to see for yourself so you’d quit mooning over those videos you think we don’t know you watch so much. And maybe I thought you might want to keep him around.”

“Shut up.”

“I’ll help you get your man.”

“For the team or for me to date?”

“Steve, if you try to date that boy right now he’s going to have a panic attack and pass out. Let’s get him on the team first, get him used to you, and then you can ask him out.”

“Yeah, okay.”

Sam had grinned, slapped him on the back, and then practically frogmarched him out of his apartment. And that was how he was now standing in the doorway of Bucky’s office watching him like a creeper while he daydreamed and played with a tiny black unicorn statue. Fuck, he was so fucking pretty.

Bucky sat the unicorn down after a few moments, lining it up just so before looking back to his computer, glaring at the screen. Steve wanted to rush in there and see whatever offending thing was bothering Bucky so he could make it go away. He had experience punching computers in the face before. He could totally do it. Especially for Bucky.

When the brunette thunked his head down on his desk Steve finally stepped into the room. He couldn’t handle him looking pitiful okay. “Sergeant Barnes?” Bucky flailed out of his chair and groaned and Steve couldn’t help but grin. Fuckin’ adorable is what he was. “Are you okay?” He heard the sound of Bucky’s head hitting what he was sure were the filing cabinets built into the desk and bit back an amused snort as he walked over to help him up. “Barnes?

He got around the desk in time to see Bucky crawling ungracefully out from under it and reached down to grasp his arms and lift him up. Jeez he was built. Steve subtly squeezed Bucky’s biceps. Forgetting for a moment why he was actually there.

“You okay?” he finally managed to choke out between rudely fondling his arms and breathing in the weird spicy woodsy scent of his cologne. Bucky nodded and looked up meet his eyes and Steve’s heart did a weird little trip in his chest that reminded him of so long ago when it beat like that all the time. Fuck, his eyes were so gorgeous. He kind of just…wanted to fall into them and never leave. Bucky blinked, long eyelashes sweeping down, and Steve noticed a scattering of freckles on his cheeks and across the bridge of his nose. How had he missed those constellations of stars on his skin? They were perfect. He wanted to draw them. Paint them. Map them with his lips and find out if he had freckles anywhere else. He’d map those with his lips and tongue, scrape his teeth over them. He’d…fuck.

He’d start acting like a normal person and not some kind of creeper. Shit. Bucky probably thought he was fucking weird just standing there and holding him like that. “I’m sorry if I startled you.”

“It’s okay.” Barnes shrugged and Steve finally let go of him. He immediately dropped back into his chair. “Um…can I help you with something?” Steve was kind of disappointed that Bucky’s voice didn’t squeak adorably like it had last time.

“Just thought I’d come down and introduce myself. Properly I mean, instead of just randomly running into you.” _Instead of accidentally on purpose slightly stalking you._

“Oh.” There was that wistful little sigh.

“Tony keeps telling us all what you did.”

“But I didn’t do anything.” Was he that modest? He’d done more than most people would have. He should have been strutting. He should be proud that he’d helped the way he had.

“You took down four different people by yourself.”

“Not at the same time.” He looked like none of what he had done mattered in the least and Steve was not going to let his Future Husband put himself down like that. No way.

“No, but the guy in the knockoff of Tony’s suit? That could have ended badly. Any of it could have, but you took care of it.”

“I didn’t mean to,” Bucky persisted.

Steve smiled with a shrug. “Doesn’t matter. You were very brave, Sergeant. Saved a lot of people.” That was the truth. Not that security or the team wouldn’t have gotten there if he hadn’t, but still. It could have been so much worse than what it was.

“I don’t know that I saved a lot of people, but thank you, I guess.”

“You’re welcome, I guess.” He smirked as he said it and didn’t at all miss the way Bucky’s eyes darkened. _Oh._ Sam’s voice filled his head, telling him to flirt with Bucky to get him to join up and he mentally slapped Devil Shoulder Sam away. He wasn’t going to take advantage like that.

“So, did Stark send you to try to talk me into joining his boy band?”

Steve snorted. “God no. We’re all terrible singers. We tried it once. Tony insisted.” Steve was fairly sure that Tony had been drunk at the time. “He said something about everyone using Auto-Tune now anyway, but I didn’t think that would be fair.”

Bucky laughed shaking his head and Steve couldn’t help the sappy smile that it caused. “But really, I think you’d be a good asset to the team. I read your service record.” _A lot._ “You’re extremely overqualified for what you’re doing. Before I read it I told Stark, we all did really, to leave you alone. If you wanted to work security you would have applied for it. I read it after you took out the guy in the suit, and then again after you brained the guy with the laptop.” _And a few times in between._ “I really think you’d be good for us.”

He could practically see the wheels turning in Bucky’s head and knew the brunette was probably trying to talk himself out of it. Honestly if he didn’t want to join up he’d never ask him about it again, he’d get everyone else to leave him alone about it, and he’d just ask him out on a date instead. Still, he had to ask. And if that stupidly earnest look happened to appear on his face it was because he was naturally earnest and it couldn’t be helped. “Will you join up?” He reached out and glided the tip of his finger over Bucky’s unicorn with a smile as he let Bucky think. How fucking adorable was it that his Future Husband had a unicorn on his desk anyway? Besides, if he couldn’t outright flirt with Bucky he could at least flirt with the unicorn a little, okay? That was fine, wasn’t it? “You really would be great.”

“Okay.” Bucky’s voice sounded breathy as fuck and Steve wondered why until he saw the slightly dazed look in his eyes. _Oh!_ He was definitely going to ask Bucky out on a date later. Maybe. He barely held back a snort. Maybe? He was definitely going to ask him out at some point. Whenever Bucky got comfortable around him because Sam said he had to wait so Bucky wouldn’t faint.

“Great,” he said instead with a smile he knew was far bigger than it should be. “Come on. We should go tell everyone.” He took Bucky’s hand and pulled him up from his chair, dragging him out of his office and through the tower to the elevator that would take them to the common floor.

When the elevator doors opened to what was basically their TV room, he saw everyone sitting on the giant orgy sized couch; all of them pretending they hadn’t been watching what had happened in Bucky’s office from the security footage. They couldn’t have been more fucking obvious unless they’d been holding poster board signs.

“You finally said yes,” Tony said with a maniacal grin as he looked up from the tablet in his hands that Steve knew he hadn’t actually been working on.

“It was an accident,” Bucky mumbled while Steve glared at Sam and Natasha who were snickering and nudging each other with their elbows.

“How do you accidentally say yes,” Tony asked. “I see,” he added after a second.

“There’s nothing to see. I take it back.” Bucky turned to leave and Steve didn’t at all stare at his ass pitifully as he watched him walk toward the elevator. “I’m going back to my tiny, comfy, formerly drama free, office where I can be the crotchety old fart of my dreams. Stay out of my office and keep off my lawn.”

Tony laughed like a dork and Natasha slid off of the couch and shoved Steve after Barnes. Oh. Yeah. He should probably ask him to stay instead of just watching him walk away all pitiful like.

“You’re not going to stay, Sergeant? I thought you decided to join up.”

“Oh. Um.”

Steve put his hand on Bucky’s shoulder, reminding himself firmly that he was not to grope him. At least until he noticed Bucky’s knees nearly buckle. He smiled to himself as he walked around in front of him, sliding his fingers across Bucky’s back and over the front of his shoulder, his thumb brushing over Bucky’s collarbone. “You should stay.”

“Okay.” His Future Husband’s voice did that breathy sigh again and Steve grinned then led him back to everyone else.

***

Steve pouted watching Bucky leave. He’d barely gotten to speak to him much less ask him on a date or if he was even interested in men or any-fucking-thing else because everyone was too busy being all up in his Kool-Aid and Steve couldn’t get a word in edgewise. Bucky had finally begged off because he had to go back to work and they’d relented. Now Bucky was in the elevator and though they worked in the same building Steve didn’t know when he’d see him again.

When Bucky turned around after stepping into the elevator Steve gave him a dorky wave while pretending not to have been staring at his shoulders, ass, and thighs as he walked away. Bucky gave him a shy smile and an adorable blush with a dorky wave of his own as the doors closed on him.

Steve didn’t at all sigh wistfully or pout. He was a grown fucking man and didn’t do anything at all that could ever be construed as dramatic. He wasn’t a drama queen like _some_ people said. Those people being the ones that were currently in the room with him. Staring at him with devious smiles.

“What?”

“Thought you weren’t going to flirt with him and use your powers for evil, Steve.”

“I…didn’t?” Sam snorted and Natasha laughed while money exchanged hands between Clint and Tony. “I didn’t! There was no flirting involved. I know you watched what happened.”

“Yeah. We saw it. You did that earnest, innocent angel shit you always do and he fell for it because he’s got a crush on you. And stroking your finger over his unicorn? That wasn’t flirting?”

“It wasn’t!”

“And skimming your fingers over his shoulders and back? That little rub of your thumb over his collarbone?”

“Sam! I wasn’t flirting!” He wasn’t. He had told himself he wasn’t going to and he hadn’t. He’d just…sort of…felt him up a little? God that sounded horrible. He was such a fucking creep. Sam rolled his eyes. “I didn’t flirt with him. And even if I did, _which I didn’t_ , it wasn’t on purpose.”

“Uh huh.”

He flipped Sam off, rolling his eyes at his cackling laugh. “Fuck you guys. I’m going home.” There was Netflix and a pint of Ben and Jerry’s that wouldn’t judge him waiting on him at his apartment.

“Who the hell let you watch South Park?” Clint asked sounding shocked. Steve had watched South Park all of once for like three minutes. He preferred The Simpsons honestly. But because he was nothing if not a troll…

“The hell is South Park?”

“Don’t,” Sam yelled. “Don’t watch it! It’ll offend your delicate 1940’s sensibilities.”

See statement above about being a troll. “Sam, I’m gay. I spent half of my life back then being sick and the other half in queer bars. I’ve sucked more dick than all of you combined. Let it go.” He may have been slightly promiscuous in his tiny twinky youth, but he’d never hurt anyone with it so he figured it was okay.

“Well, yeah, but that could’ve only been like three dicks.”

Natasha, Clint, and Tony all made little thoughtful “Eh” noises, Bruce stayed silent as he tended to do during these conversations (but Steve knew for a fact that Bruce and Tony had fucked at least once “For Science”) and Sam rolled his eyes.

“I’m not some sweet, innocent, virginal, cookie cutter of 1940’s America. I wish people would let that shit go.” He knew he was making Sam feel bad and even though Sam was the least likely of all of his friends to bring up the old timey bullshit Steve still hated it. Even if Sam had been joking.

“Well,” Tony started. “If you came out and talked about all the dick Tiny You sucked then maybe people would.”

“I’d rather not deal with the media shitstorm right now. Thanks. I’m going home.”

“Are you sure you’re not going to go flirt with Barnes some more,” Natasha asked as he walked toward the elevator.

“I wasn’t flirting!”

“If you weren’t in denial you wouldn’t be so grumpy right now.”

“I’m not fuckin’ grumpy. You’re all just assholes.” He muttered it as he stepped into the elevator and hit the button for his floor.

***

“He really needs to train with us,” Steve muttered as he read yet another text from Bucky canceling his training session. “At least once so we know what to expect.”

So far Bucky had canceled all training sessions and turned down every offer to join them for lunch or dinner. They hadn’t called him out because of it. They didn’t need someone that couldn’t or wouldn’t mesh with them out on a mission. Yeah, they’d seen and read some of what he could do but not the full extent of it. They needed to see how he worked with their team. If they couldn’t work cohesively then there was no point in Barnes actually agreeing to join up. If he’d even meant it. Probably he’d just said yes to get them off his back. In which case Steve understood and wished him well. If it wasn’t the case then why didn’t he want to be around them? It had been weeks. Steve was going to have to do something desperate, he thought.

“Just go see him. You know where his office is.”

“I don’t have a good reason. I can’t just show up and say hi.”

“Oh, Jesus. Save me from stubborn white boys,” Sam muttered. “Your excuse, since you need one, is that he’s been avoiding the entire team and needs to train.”

“I can’t.” Steve may have slept with more than a few men in his life but he actually hadn’t slept with anyone since he’d come out of the ice and he was fairly certain he was in love with Bucky just a little bit and for some reason that made him extremely awkward about him now. Not that he didn’t still want to date him, but still. “Will you go do it? Please? I’ll give you anything you want.”

“Let me use the shield next mission and you got a deal.”

“Deal.” Steve thrust his hand out before Sam could change his mind and Sam laughed shaking his hand.

“One date with James Buchanan Barnes coming up. Call everyone in.”

“It’s not a date!”

“Uh huh.” Sam laughed again.

“It’s not!”

“But you want to date him.”

“Yes.”

“Question though?”

“Hmm?”

“Does he even know you’re gay?”

“No one does besides you guys. You know that.”

“Then how’s he supposed to know you’re interested in him?”

“I fuckin’ flirted with him, Samuel!”

“Ha! Thank you! It’s about fucking time you admitted it!” Sam threw his hands up in the air, dancing a dorky as fuck victory dance, and then ran out of the room as Steve threw a couch cushion at him.

“Asshole!”

***

Steve heard a highly undignified yelp and couldn’t help but smile when he looked toward it and saw his Future Husband sitting on one of the benches holding a jar of Nutella in one hand and a spoon in the other.

“You came.”

“Not yet,” he heard Stark murmur and saw Bucky kick his armor covered shin. His smile grew brighter at that and he knew for sure that Bucky liked him back. Jeez he hadn’t felt like this since he was a twink getting his first kiss from the cute guy at the bar that had bought him one too many drinks and then dragged him into the alley for his first blowjob. It was kind of nice and kind of embarrassing at the same time.

“Uh…yeah. Sam said I hadta.”

“No! No, I said you should and that Steve said you needed to.”

Uh oh. Had Steve inadvertently used himself for the powers of evil again? Oops. Or technically, he guessed Sam had done it. So he was in the clear for that one right? Stark snorted, walking over to where Clint and Natasha had joined Sam on the mats. Steve pretended he didn’t see the devious grins aimed his and Bucky’s ways and bit back a laugh when Bucky flipped them all off while pretending to scratch his nose and almost smeared Nutella all over his face. Steve wanted the Nutella smeared over other, more fun places. He’d take Nutella over edible body paints any day. And he’d better stop that train of thought immediately because he knew that it was not nearly as fun to get an erection in the suit as he’d once thought it might be.

Still, since Bucky was here. “You really should train. We might have a tough call and need you with us. We don’t need any accidents because we don’t know what to expect from each other.” He smiled as he said it even if it did have a slightly reprimanding tone to it. He didn’t want to run Bucky off since he’d finally shown up.

Bucky only stared at him for a few minutes, barely breathing, and Steve wondered if he was having some kind of episode or if he was imagining his own Nutella smears. “Sergeant?”

“Bucky. I’m retired. I’m not a sergeant anymore. Can I uh…just kind of hang out and watch a little bit? Finish my lunch?”

He was eating the Nutella for lunch? Steve had thought it was just a snack or something. “You’re eating a jar of Nutella for lunch,” he asked with a raised brow. Bucky nodded.

“What’s wrong with it?”

“Nothing. Nothing wrong. Just…shouldn’t you eat something better for you?”

“That’s a losing argument Cap,” Stark told him. “Come on. Let him watch. I’m sure he wants to see you…us…in action.” Bucky glared at Stark and was it weird that his glare was kind of adorable instead of scary? Steve nodded to himself, yeah it was weird, then turned back to the team, well aware that Bucky was staring at him and pretending he wasn’t.

“Free for all today.” Mostly because he was being a bit vain and wanted to show off for his Future Husband. They all nodded, then immediately started trying to one-up each other.

And because he was showing off he flung the shield at Bucky, cleanly knocking his spoon from his hand. The shield ricocheted off of two walls before flying back toward him and he caught it with a smug grin at the look on Bucky’s face. It was half shocked, half furious and Steve had to fight not to giggle.

Bucky sat his Nutella down, then stood and walked toward the mat where his spoon now lay and shook his limbs loose. He paused long enough to unbutton his shirt and Steve wasn’t at all staring at all at the miles of muscles that came into view as his shirt was tossed toward the bench. His pants got just a little bit tighter as his inner twink danced excitedly while he watched Bucky step onto the mat and bounce on his toes.

“Let’s go.”

And that was the last thing Steve had been completely sure of until Bucky had impaled the wall right next to his head with his spoon. Why was that so hot? It shouldn’t have been right? God, his Future Husband was such a fucking badass!

“Holy shit.” Steve looked over Bucky’s shoulder to see everyone peeling themselves off of the floor. “The fuck do you do at the gym,” Sam asked as he shrugged off his wing. Bucky only walked over to Natasha and checked her over to make sure she was okay.

Steve watched the muscles rippling in Bucky’s back as he moved and chatted with Natasha. He wanted to drag his tongue down Bucky’s back. Wanted to drag his tongue all over Bucky actually. And he would definitely let Bucky practice the Death by Thighs thing on him as much as he wanted if Natasha was serious about teaching him how to do it.

Natasha and Clint shuffled out of the room together and Steve finally put his shield back on its harness as Sam moved in on Bucky.

“Seriously! What do you do at the gym,” Sam asked. Steve kind of wanted to know that himself when he glanced at the scoreboard and saw how little time it had taken Bucky to beat their asses. It had been suspiciously fast. Almost as fast as he was. Holy fucking shit! Was Bucky enhanced?

Bucky shrugged. “Dunno. A little cardio and some weight training.”

“Bullshit.”

“You’re enhanced?”

Bucky shook his head turning toward Steve and Tony.

“Nope.”

“Bullshit,” Stark said.

“I’m not. I can get drunk and everything.”

“Even with your arm and training taken into account, you shouldn’t have been able to do any of this. Not that easily. Not that quickly. I need your blood.”

What? Well…Tony would need it to test if Bucky was enhanced or not, but that was kind of sudden wasn’t it? And rude to just demand his Future Husband’s blood like that. Fuckin’ Stark.

“Nope,” Bucky said again. _Good for you, baby. You tell him._ Wait…if Bucky was enhanced, then that explained why he didn’t want to join up. He knew he could win and knew that there would be questions. If he hadn’t wanted anyone to know, then this was the last thing he had ever wanted or needed to do. Shit. Still…Steve was curious and had little to no common sense when distracted by a hot guy so…

“Is this why you didn’t want to join up? Because you knew you could win?” He rubbed the bruise on his stomach as he spoke.

“One reason I didn’t want to join up was because I made my sister a promise after I got blown up.” He waved his right hand toward his left side where faded burn scars littered his chest and stomach and Steve wanted to take the time to kiss them all better even though they were already healed. “Any other reasons are my own.” Steve nodded. Yeah, he got that.

“Man, you’re cranky. Cranky McCrankerton,” Stark grumbled.

Bucky laughed at Stark while pulling his shirt back on and buttoning it up slowly. “I want my tiny rocket launcher, Stark. You promised.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

“How long did it take exactly?”

***

Steve whined into his last bottle of Thor’s moonshine. Thor needed to come back soon and give him another couple bottles to stash away for drinking emergencies. Thor needed to come back anyway because Steve missed his drinking buddy. Except Thor would probably charm his way into Bucky’s pants when he realized how awesome he was. Bucky probably liked Thor better any-fuckin’-way. Stupid Thor.

“Steve.”

“Go ‘way, Tasha.”

“Stop being a drama queen.”

He jerked his head up from the table and glared at her. “I am not a drama queen! How dare you.” He was not flapping his hand at her. He was waving her away because he wanted to be left alone with his bottle.

“I brought you something, but you have to promise me you’ll wait to use it until you’re sober.”

“Is it a vibrator, because I already have one, and now I’m gonna be stuck using it ‘cause you ran Bucky off!”

“No I didn’t. And I kind of figured you for a top.”

“You’re not supposed to say shit like that and there’s not a fucking thing wrong with switching. I like both. I coulda been balls deep in him right now, you know.”

“I didn’t say there was anything wrong with it. And no you couldn’t have been because he’s got so much of a crush on you he panics when you even look in his direction. Even if he does have little hearts floating over his head. Quit moping.”

“Not mopin’.”

“You broke out the last bottle of your emergency moonshine and you don’t even know when Thor is coming back. You’re moping.”

“Shut your face.”

Natasha sighed then stuck a post-it to his forehead. “For sober use only. Promise me.” He nodded and she kissed his cheek then pulled the bottle from his hand. “Go to bed, Steve.”

“Okay.” She put the fancy cork back in the bottle, kissed his cheek again, then murmured a quiet goodnight and left his apartment, carrying the bottle with her. He started to pull the sticky note from his forehead to see what it was but he figured it was super important since Natasha had made him promise he wouldn’t use it until he was sober.

He wasn’t even that drunk. He was barely buzzed. He absolutely did not sway on his feet when he stood. And he definitely did not have to hold onto the wall to make it to his bedroom. He didn’t crawl to his bed and fall asleep hanging halfway off of it either.

***

When he woke up late the next morning with only the top half of his body on the bed and the taste of death and failure in his mouth he whimpered and slid the rest to the way to the floor. He didn’t have any pride left and no one was there to see him crawling to his bathroom anyway.

When he managed to pull himself up using the bathroom sink he saw a glaringly pink post-it note stuck to his forehead. Huh. He narrowed his eyes trying to read Natasha’s scribbles in the mirror and realized it was an address with an apartment number. No name, no other identifier. Did she hire him an escort like she’d threatened to do so many times before because she felt he needed to get laid? Surprisingly, Stark hadn’t offered to get him one. If Steve had looked at the sticky note while drunk he may have taken her up on it. Actually…fuck it. Bucky was gone. He most likely wasn’t coming back, so it wasn’t like Steve needed to save himself for anyone any-fucking-way.

He’d take a shower and clean up and then he’d go see Natasha’s escort.

***

Steve knocked on the door hoping it wasn’t too early for whatever Natasha had planned for him and heard someone stumbling through the apartment. And then he heard his former Future Husband whining. Was he hungover too? And apparently Natasha had not hired him an escort. He didn’t know if he was relieved or disappointed or just happy as hell to know she’d given him Bucky’s address.

“Why didn’t you just sit the shit down and then open the door, Rebecca? It’s not that hard.” He pulled the door open during the last of his whining and Steve could only blink. Bucky was holding a white Stark Industries coffee mug, his hair was wet and hanging to his shoulders, and he was only wearing a pair of low hanging sweats. Sweet Christ, he was so gorgeous. Bucky only blinked at him then swung the door shut. “Nope.”

“Bucky?”

“No.”

Damn it. “I just want to talk.”

“No.”

“Please.” He wasn’t begging. He was just…asking repeatedly.

“No.”

Steve sighed heavily and heard Bucky walking away from the door. “Steve?”

“Oh, hey Becca.”

“What’s going on?”

“I came to see Bucky.” Technically it wasn’t a lie. “I wanted to apologize for yesterday. Can I come in? I promise I just want to talk.” She eyed him for just a second and he felt his ‘kicked puppy’ face slide into place.

“Yeah. Okay.” He smiled thankfully as she reached into her pocket and produced a lock pick. Seconds of rattling later the door opened and he heard Bucky yelling about using a key.

“I don’t have a key,” he said quietly as he walked into the apartment ahead of Becca when she nudged him inside. He saw Bucky sitting at an island in the kitchen nursing a full cup of coffee. The brunette snapped his head up and glared.

“You’re not my sister.”

“I should hope not,” Becca said stepping out from behind Steve. Bucky groaned. “That might be kinda weird. I mean…he’s blonde.” Steve couldn’t help but smile a little bit.

“No,” his former Future Husband grunted and turned back to his coffee. Becca moved around beside him and sat the bag she’d been carrying in front of him on the island and then wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “He just looked so fucking pitiful and he asked if he could come in. Promised he just wanted to talk. I couldn’t say no.” Steve almost giggled and turned to look around the living room instead of blatantly eavesdropping. It wasn’t his fault he could hear everything. He saw a replica of his shield hanging on the wall over the fireplace and a replica of Stark’s helmet in the palm of what looked like Bucky’s arm. A previous model that Tony had let him keep then.

“It’s easier if you’re not looking at him.” Steve almost tripped over his feet and he was just standing there. What did that even mean? Bucky liked him that much he couldn’t say no? Oh, shit. Then maybe he really hadn’t meant to join up. It really had been an accident. Fuck.

Becca laughed quietly and Steve heard her kiss Bucky’s cheek or something. “I bet.”

“That weird possession thing happened didn’t it? Words that weren’t yours came out, huh?”

“Yeah. It’s so fucking weird.” Steve snuck a peek at them and almost giggled again at the perplexed look on their faces. So it was a Barnes trait then and not just Bucky.

“What’d you want to talk about,” Bucky asked, _not_ looking at him, Steve noticed with a small smile. “I’m not going back.” He couldn’t help but be disappointed.

“I uh…wanted to apologize for yesterday. If I freaked you out over the enhanced thing? It…it doesn’t matter honestly. I was just surprised. No one’s gotten the jump on me like that since before.” That was partially the truth anyway.

The actual truth was that Steve couldn't tell Bucky that he'd only asked about him being enhanced because the only thing that had been running through his mind after Bucky had whipped his shirt off was basically unf and asking if he was enhanced sounded better than the unf that wanted to come out.

Bucky had taken down each member of the team so easily and Steve had only been able to watch. Had checked to make sure he wasn't drooling in the scant seconds it had taken Bucky to disable them. When he'd finally pulled his head out of his ass and thrown the shield, Bucky had caught it, gotten a gorgeous grin on his face and Steve had been so stunned by that smile, by all those muscles on display, by the fact the shield had been caught to begin with, he'd barely caught it when Bucky threw it back at him.

He'd never been aroused in a fight before and certainly never after someone impaled a spoon in the wall right by his head. How was that even sexy? It wasn't, right? It was ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. It wasn't sexy to get your ass handed to you by gorgeous, beefy, scruffy, long haired, Intelligence Nerds.

Apparently his brain thought it was, or at least his dick did, if the useless cold shower he'd taken after Bucky had left was any indication. He'd tried to curb it after seeing Bucky's panic, but he couldn’t focus on anything but the way Bucky had moved, the way he’d taken them all down, muscles on display for the twenty seconds or so it had taken him, the way he’d caught the shield and then thrown it back with that fucking gorgeous grin on his face. The way he’d neatly flipped his spoon to his left hand and embedded it in the wall right next to Steve’s head. He felt guilty as all hell and that was probably why he was now standing in Bucky’s apartment, fixing to beg for forgiveness and ask him to come back after spending half the night drinking away his guilt and self-pity. Even if he had originally only come because he thought Natasha had finally set him up with an escort.

“When you were tiny you,” Bucky asked.

Steve chuckled quietly. “Yeah. So, I just wanted to say I’m sorry and ask if you’d come back.” He did want him to come back. True, it was mostly because he eventually wanted to ask Bucky on a date, but he also really did want Bucky on the team. Especially now that he knew Bucky could keep up with him.

“Are you going to experiment on me?” his former Future Husband asked, sounding way too pitiful for Steve’s comfort.

“What? No!” That would never fucking happen. Yeah, Steve was curious as shit to find out what made Bucky the way he was, because the guy was obviously enhanced, but he wasn’t about to let Stark start testing on him. No fucking way.

“Stark said he wanted my blood.”

“Oh, hell no!” Becca slammed her hand down on the island. “He is not going to do that to you!” And apparently Becca knew about Bucky being enhanced, too.

“No. He’s not,” he practically growled it and Bucky’s head snapped up to stare at him with surprise in his ice blue eyes. “Natasha and Bruce already talked him down. For the most part.” So had Steve, but he wouldn’t admit that just yet. “No one is ever going to make you do anything you don’t want, Bucky.” His stupid ‘earnest face’ came back without his permission. “We need you.”

“Yeah, okay,” Bucky sighed.

“Bucky,” Becca yelled, tugging on a lock of her brother’s hair. Steve didn’t miss the way Bucky had flicked his fingers toward him. “Argh!”

Steve smiled happily and barely kept himself from reaching out to take Bucky’s hand in his own. “Thank you, Bucky.” The brunette blushed with a negligent shrug and Steve held back a laugh. His Future Husband was coming back.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dunno if any of y'all noticed but this is also added into another series called Steve's POV because the next bit of anything I put out _should_ be the missing twenty minutes after their wedding mentioned in chapter nine? I think it was. It'll be called Twenty Minutes in Heaven so be on the lookout for it in the next few days hopefully. (or subscribe to the Steve's POV series so you for sure don't miss it)
> 
> Oh! and possibly that bit when Steve shows up in Bucky's office as Sexy Lumberjack Steve and kisses him. So yeah. Steve's POV is now a series.


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